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Who cares about tone? Why be sensitive in this context? It's a language. Why would anyone get offended when someone says "Your language sucks"? It's not lik

Who cares about tone? Why be sensitive in this context? It's a language. Why would anyone get offended when someone says "Your language sucks"? It's not like they're saying your hair sucks or your tongue is incapable of tasting sweets or your ear is shaped like a tulip. It's a language. No one can help what language they learned when they were a child. It wasn't up to them. Of course some of them are going to suck overall more than others, and of course there are different reasons for the suckage, and of course all languages suck in different ways. It seems like if someone is getting offended about someone else saying their language sucks, they're probably going to get offended about pretty much anything.

bluerobotcat 12y ago
> Who cares about tone? Why be sensitive in this context? It's a language. Why would anyone get offended when someone says "Your language sucks"? It's not like they're saying your hair sucks or your tongue is incapable of tasting sweets or your ear is shaped like a tulip. Yet article 1 of the United Nations Charter states that one of the four purposed of the UN is "To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion". Language politics are in fact really complicated. I myself am from a country that less than a decade ago went without a federal government for 20 months because the different language groups couldn't get along. > It's a language. No one can help what language they learned when they were a child. And while we're at it, why would anyone be sensitive about skin color or nationality?
eric_bullington 12y ago
At first I thought you were being sarcastic, but then I realized you are actually arguing that only overly-sensitive people are offended when their language is insulted. Since language is a core component of human culture, many people become offended when their language is insulted or threatened. Countries have gone to war over language. Provinces succeed over language. Language is a very, very sensitive topic in many places, such as Quebec, Catalonia, the nations of former Yugoslavia, and so on and so forth. You may think that people shouldn't be sensitive if their language is denigrated or insulted, but that is demonstrably not the case now. Some of us may not care, but many people -- maybe even most people -- would become angry or annoyed if their native language is open ridiculed.
- sillysaurus3 12y ago
  That's very interesting. Thank you. Which cultures have gone to war over language? I'd like to educate myself on their history, and try to understand how something like language was one of the primary reasons for something as serious as a war.
  - sho_hn 12y ago
    Nicholas Ostler's Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World is a journey through human history as seen through a lense of expanding, contracting and competing languages spheres. Well worth a read.
    - sillysaurus3 12y ago
      Thanks so much!
  - UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
    For an example of a "sensitive" language situation see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian >In the 20th century, Serbo-Croatian served as the official language of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (when it was called "Serbo-Croato-Slovenian"),[9] and later as one of the official languages of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The dissolution of Yugoslavia affected language attitudes, so that social conceptions of the language separated on ethnic and political lines. Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnian has likewise been established as an official standard in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and there is an ongoing movement to codify a separate Montenegrin standard. Serbo-Croatian thus generally goes by the ethnic names Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and sometimes Montenegrin.[10] This is also a great article on the topic http://www.rferl.mobi/a/Serbian_Croatian_Bosnian_or_Montenegrin_Many_In_Balkans_Just_Call_It_Our_Language_/1497105.html http://www.rferl.mobi/a/Serbian_Croatian_Bosnian_or_Monteneg...
- Houshalter 12y ago
  He's not arguing about language though, but writing systems specifically. If someone would say the English writing system sucks, and gave specific reasons why, I would probably agree with them. Spellings are absurd, we have unnecessary letters, case makes no sense, etc. But I can't get being offended even if criticizing the language itself. English certainly has a lot of strange and arbitrary rules. What is with "be", "are", "am" for example? Why should languages be above criticism?
Argorak 12y ago
> Who cares about tone? Leaving aside the idea that you are the one to decide what others should be sensitive on: Because it makes the signal-to-noise ratio of this blog post _crap_. I'm not sure if particular things are a serious grief or just a bewildered look at new things. I'm not sure of the intention. Should it educate or just rant? It's unclear and wastes a lot of time on things that don't add anything.
oranguntan 12y ago
Is living with autism difficult?

bluerobotcat 12y ago

> Who cares about tone? Why be sensitive in this context? It's a language. Why would anyone get offended when someone says "Your language sucks"? It's not like they're saying your hair sucks or your tongue is incapable of tasting sweets or your ear is shaped like a tulip. Yet article 1 of the United Nations Charter states that one of the four purposed of the UN is "To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion". Language politics are in fact really complicated. I myself am from a country that less than a decade ago went without a federal government for 20 months because the different language groups couldn't get along. > It's a language. No one can help what language they learned when they were a child. And while we're at it, why would anyone be sensitive about skin color or nationality?

eric_bullington 12y ago

At first I thought you were being sarcastic, but then I realized you are actually arguing that only overly-sensitive people are offended when their language is insulted. Since language is a core component of human culture, many people become offended when their language is insulted or threatened. Countries have gone to war over language. Provinces succeed over language. Language is a very, very sensitive topic in many places, such as Quebec, Catalonia, the nations of former Yugoslavia, and so on and so forth. You may think that people shouldn't be sensitive if their language is denigrated or insulted, but that is demonstrably not the case now. Some of us may not care, but many people -- maybe even most people -- would become angry or annoyed if their native language is open ridiculed.

sillysaurus3 12y ago
That's very interesting. Thank you. Which cultures have gone to war over language? I'd like to educate myself on their history, and try to understand how something like language was one of the primary reasons for something as serious as a war.
- sho_hn 12y ago
  Nicholas Ostler's Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World is a journey through human history as seen through a lense of expanding, contracting and competing languages spheres. Well worth a read.
  - sillysaurus3 12y ago
    Thanks so much!
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  For an example of a "sensitive" language situation see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian >In the 20th century, Serbo-Croatian served as the official language of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (when it was called "Serbo-Croato-Slovenian"),[9] and later as one of the official languages of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The dissolution of Yugoslavia affected language attitudes, so that social conceptions of the language separated on ethnic and political lines. Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnian has likewise been established as an official standard in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and there is an ongoing movement to codify a separate Montenegrin standard. Serbo-Croatian thus generally goes by the ethnic names Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and sometimes Montenegrin.[10] This is also a great article on the topic http://www.rferl.mobi/a/Serbian_Croatian_Bosnian_or_Montenegrin_Many_In_Balkans_Just_Call_It_Our_Language_/1497105.html http://www.rferl.mobi/a/Serbian_Croatian_Bosnian_or_Monteneg...
Houshalter 12y ago
He's not arguing about language though, but writing systems specifically. If someone would say the English writing system sucks, and gave specific reasons why, I would probably agree with them. Spellings are absurd, we have unnecessary letters, case makes no sense, etc. But I can't get being offended even if criticizing the language itself. English certainly has a lot of strange and arbitrary rules. What is with "be", "are", "am" for example? Why should languages be above criticism?

Argorak 12y ago

> Who cares about tone? Leaving aside the idea that you are the one to decide what others should be sensitive on: Because it makes the signal-to-noise ratio of this blog post _crap_. I'm not sure if particular things are a serious grief or just a bewildered look at new things. I'm not sure of the intention. Should it educate or just rant? It's unclear and wastes a lot of time on things that don't add anything.

oranguntan 12y ago

Is living with autism difficult?